Rex Denning
| aliases = General Rex Denning General Denning | series = Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | image = | gender = | notability = | occupation = | base of operations = Roswell, New Mexico | known relatives = | status = | born = | died = | 1st appearance = "Little Green Men" | final appearance = | actor = Charles Napier }} General Rex Denning is a fictional military officers and a minor character featured in the Star Trek television franchise. Played by actor Charles Napier, he appeared in the 1990s series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the season four episode, "Little Green Men". Biography Rex Denning was an officer in the United States Army holding the rank of General. As a middle-aged man he was active in the mid-1940s where he was stationed in Roswell, New Mexico. In 1947, the US Army picked up a crashed alien space vessel piloted by three beings whom Denning mistakenly believed were Martians. Under orders by President Truman, General Denning had the ship taken to Hanger 18 and the three aliens were placed into quarantine. The aliens were not Martians at all, but were in fact members of the race known as the Ferengi named Quark, Rom and Nog, who had accidentally traveled backwards in time from the year 2372. Denning was concerned that if the general public learned about the aliens' existence that it would create widespread panic. He had one of his officers create a cover story, which was that the spacecraft was actually a downed weather balloon. Once the Army and the Ferengi resolved issues of the language barrier, Denning addressed the group directly, speaking only Quark, who had assumed an authoritative stance amongst the three. Quark told Denning that they had come to Earth to open up trade negotiations, which was actually a lie, but one that the greedy Quark was more than willing to make a reality. Quark told Denning that he could sell the US government technology so advanced that they would be able to fabricate material and heal injuries and cure disease in ways they never thought possible. Denning however, was only interested in their technological ability to design weapons. The only commodity that Denning had to barter with was gold, but this required permission from the President first. As it turned out, a fourth alien had actually stowed away aboard the spacecraft with the three Ferengi, a shape-shifter named Odo. Odo helped Quark, Rom and Nog escape custody from the US Army and even slugged General Denning when his soldiers tried to pursue them. Denning subsequently issued orders that the public not be informed of the alien crash-landing, and that the official story remain that the Air Corps had only recovered a crashed weather balloon. Notes & Trivia * * General Denning's service medals indicate that he was a veteran of World War II. * Actor Charles Napier has appeared in numerous movies and television programs, usually playing grizzled "tough guy" characters. Coincidentally, one of his TV credits includes an episode of Roswell called "Summer of '47". * The storyline behind this episode is based on an actual alleged UFO crash that took place in Roswell, New Mexico in July, 1947. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of controversy, and conspiracy theories as to the true nature of the object that crashed. The United States Armed Forces maintains what was recovered was debris from an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon belonging to a classified program named Mogul See also External links References ---- Category:United States Army personnel Category:Characters with biographies